Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Former guard sentenced in deadly bar shooting

Friday, March 5, 2010 at 5:30pm

Staff reports

A judge ordered the former Nippers Corner security guard who shot a Marathon Sports bar patron two years ago to begin serving a six-year sentence today.

Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Randall Wyatt Jr. sentenced Jeremy Holmes to a six-year sentence with a status review after two years, when Holmes could get probation for the remainder of his sentence. After defense attorneys argued for six years of probation, Wyatt determined Holmes should serve at least two years for the offense.

Holmes was indicted on a second-degree murder charge in September 2008 for the shooting death of Adam Villegas in a Nippers Corner parking lot on May 16, 2008.

An August 2009 trial ended in a hung jury, and in January, Holmes accepted a six-year sentence for pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

Holmes contended that Villegas got into his car after a night of drinking and started to pull away as Holmes tried to record his license plate number. Holmes said he then drew his gun and ordered Villegas out of the car.

When Villegas didn%u2019t cooperate, Holmes fired one shot into Villegas%u2019 car hitting him in the neck. Villegas died at the scene.

According to police, Holmes said he felt at risk of being hit by the car.